Friday, May 27, 2011

What a Story!

(Vincent Price was born 100 years ago today. I thought that this occasion deserved a special post)

Let me tell you a story. It is the outline of a film that I saw not too long ago. Based on a classic piece of literature, it was strange, dark, and intriguing. It left an impression on me. And here it goes:

Once upon a time, there was a girl in England

She appeared uninteresting, but she was full of determination

One day, she traveled not to far away from a forboding old house

Due to an accident with a horse, she met the owner of the house, a brooding and mysterious man.

She was intrigued by this man.

She did not know much of his past, but that did not prevent her from being attracted to him.

But something came between their relationship

A woman

But not just any woman: it was the man's wife.

This dark haired beauty haunted his house and his mind.

Eventually, it ended in flames.

The wife is destroyed in the flame, but at a great cost to the man.

Among other things, he loses his eyesight.

But the girl ends up Okay.

The End

And this is the basic outline of one of the most original and strange classic films that I have ever seen...

And it is called..

Jane Eyre

oh wait....don't get me wrong, I really like this film (the Orson Welles version, at least)

No, I am talking about a real classic:

The Tomb of Ligeia

Sure, it takes plot points from Jane Eyre, in addition to the flaming finale (complete with footage from House of Usher) from previous Roger Corman-Vincent Price-Edgar Allan Poe adaptations.
Though I do not consider it the best film that meshed these three men together (that would be a tie between Usher and The Pit and the Pendulum).

But I still love it.

Maybe it is the over elaborate dialogue.

One such tasty morsel occurs during Vernon's (our "hero", played wonderfully by Price) brief wooing of Lady Rowena (an equally great Elizabeth Shepard).

"Your hair...it makes a shamble of the light."

Maybe it is the lovely shots of the English countryside.

As well as the foreboding cobwebed interiors of Vernon's manor.

Perhaps it is the direction, the acting, the cinematography, the cliché's that occur in all of Corman's Poe films.....

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I love old movies, plays, tv shows, books, etc.
This blog isn't solely dedicated to the awesomeness that is Conrad Veidt; it's a place where I talk about anything movie related that crosses my mind, usually reviews and ramblings.